To continue the tradition of writing the five pros and cons of serving as a Foreign Service Officer abroad and following my similar posts on Ciudad Juarez and Shanghai, its has come time to write about Lilongwe.

PROS

1. The Housing, Most Especially the Yards. The houses in Lilongwe are okay in my book. These are the residences one generally expects when posted to Africa: large, ranch-style homes. They are quirky, often 70s-style (perhaps the worst decade for architecture) with odd layouts and/or odd features, and require frequent calls to facilities to address issues. For example, I have a room with only two walls that is more like a large square hallway between two other rooms. And in that room there is also an unusual recessed wall. I also have a random, I don’t even know what to call it, a raised platform? dividing my living and dining spaces. Still, I love my home. But its really the yards that make the Lilongwe homes. I can wax lyrically about my yard for hours on end. I even wrote a whole blog post about mine. Every Mission home I have visited has a wonderful yard. They are large, lush, and leafy and filled with birdsong day and night. We have trees, so many trees, from fruit-bearing (avocado, citrus, banana, mango, papaya) to flowering (jacaranda, flame, poinsettia, palm, frangipani), and various other hardwood and softwoods. Many of us have gardens growing vegetables and herbs. I did not grow up with a yard, only a balcony, and the only other yard was the rock strewn one where scorpions liked to hide in Juarez; I shall always be grateful to have had the opportunity to live in my Lilongwe home surrounded by such an expanse of nature.

2. Climate/Weather/Nature. One thing that is universal among those who live here are the raves about the weather. If you are a fan of the snow and ice kind of cold, then Malawi is not the place for you. But if you enjoy warm weather with a touch of chill in the winter months, then this is the place. There are three seasons: the cool and dry (roughly April-August), the warm and dry (approximately September-November), and the warm and wet (around December-March). In the first, it can be surprisingly chilly overnight and in the early morning, with temperatures in the mid-40s to mid-50s (Fahrenheit). But it does not remain cool all day; in a way it reminds me of the winters of Ciudad Juarez with its high desert chill as low as the 30s but up to the 60s or even 70s during the day. Lilongwe is not high desert, but its elevation at 3,440 feet (1,050 meters) above sea level may take some by surprise. Its rarely humid; its heat in the warmest months in the 80s. It’s rainy season turns the leafy areas of the cities (like our yards) and most especially the countryside, a blindingly lush, verdant green. And while all is not perfect, of course, as the rust brown dust invades our homes, and climate change, poor government planning, and deforestation can wreck havoc in this poor country, there is always some natural beauty to be found.

3. Wildlife. Something one thinks of when bringing young children to Africa is the opportunity to take them on safari — to see the forests and savannas teeming with African animals. The reality though is that many game parks and lodges on the continent do not welcome small children. Many have policies of no children under 12 or even under 16. However, Malawi is different. While there are a few activities my daughter cannot take part in (generally walking safaris are out — and from the one time we visited a cheetah sanctuary in South Africa and saw how the animals tracked her as we walked through the facility, I get why), but she is welcome most anywhere. And its not just the wildlife in parks, but that in our very yards and neighborhoods. From the monkeys we may see at or near the Lilongwe Wildlife Center (including at times on the Embassy roof) to the haunting high-pitched whoop of a hyena (I’ve heard it twice in the capital and a colleague saw one once). Within our own yard we have seen hedgehogs, mongoose, and snakes — a giant blind snake, a herald, and a brown house snake (all harmless to humans, thank goodness, but still inspire fear in our gardener and guards who often assume all snakes are mambas) — and once we saw a genet (a cat-like animal similar to a mongoose or a civet) run across the road at twilight in our neighborhood.

4. Travel. Okay, Malawi does not have the attractions of many of its nearby neighbors — there is no equivalent of Victoria Falls or Zanzibar or the Maasai Mara. But there are many posts in Africa where travel is extremely limited for security reasons — such as being unable to drive beyond the ring road of Abuja. In Malawi, you can travel. And while the costs of a few nights at one of the fancy lodges will set you back more than many might like (I see a lot of complaints on TripAdvisor, but Malawi does not get the tourists that more well-known African destinations do, thus small market equals higher prices), the costs may be more reasonable than other African destinations. Lake Malawi is the third largest lake in Africa (10th in the world); it is also the most biodiverse lake in the world for freshwater fish. You can snorkel (away from the shores where the crocs and hippos hang out) or just admire the way the waters lap the shore and fall asleep to the sounds of the waves — the closest tourist part of the lake is just a two hour drive from the capital. But there are also great national parks, including those that are under management by the South African conservation NGO African Parks (Prince Harry is the President) — Majete, Liwonde, and Nkhotakota. There are unique travel destinations from Likoma Island, a Malawian exclave surrounded by Mozambican waters in Lake Malawi, to the tea estates of the south. And if you hanker to cross a border to travel, the beautiful South Luangwa Park in Zambia is just a three hour drive from Lilongwe.

5. Colleagues / Meaningful Work. There is something about Malawi, to its “Warm Heart of Africa” motto; it gets under your skin, burrows into your heart. Yes, it is one of the poorest countries in the world, so development money is welcome and needed. But its not just that. While there can no doubt be incredible frustration with the level of corruption uncovered, the seemingly backward steps the country has made since independence, there is also an indomitable spirit and an extraordinary amount of talent in this country. There is an incredible amount of progress being made compared to many other countries on the continent or around the world — one of the first countries in the world to launch a national Adolescent Girls and Young Women strategy; it will likely be one of the first to reach epidemic control on HIV/AIDS; its apolitical, professional military one of the first on the continent to receive U.S. certification as peackeeping trainers; and the Constitutional Court and Supreme Court’s landmark decisions to overturn a presidential election — and for that court mandated new election to be held peacefully — brought the country worldwide attention and admiration. And maybe because it’s a lovely, generally quiet place with a good school, or because one can get an immense amount of satisfaction from the work, the Embassy attracts some of the finest officers and staff I have ever had the pleasure of working with. These are people who have impressed me with their professionalism and kindness, and made me want to be better.

CONS

1. Insects, Insects, and More Insects. In general, I would say I have a “live and let live” attitude toward insects. I am not a huge fan of being in close proximity to creepy crawlie bugs, but with as much backpacking as I did back in the day in Southeast Asia, I could maybe be described as “chill” when it comes to bugs. Not that I will not screech at the top of my lungs when faced with a giant flying coachroach or a good-sized spider — I absolutely will — but I have seen others really freak out. Of course, I cannot say I was quite prepared for the buggy world that Africa had to offer me. Exhibit A would be the Great White Moth Invasion of 2017. Some sort of small white mealy moth and about 10,000 of his friends hatched in my yard in the Fall of 2017. They were everywhere outside — well in my yard, no one else seemed to have these — and would get in my face, on my clothing, covering every square inch of my garden wall. I completely lost my sh*t one day, grabbing a shoe and vowing to kill, at a minimum, 1,000 of those buggers. And I did — so much crazed whacking that I developed a painful blister. Thankfully, those seem to not be an annual occurrence, but unfortunately, Exhibit B, the termites and flying ants are. With the first rains, these horrible winged creatures rise from the wet earth like the living dead and hover around every single external light in massive swarms. My guards and staff delight in this season — frolicking among them gathering them for snacks — but I also tend to lose my mind at least once every termite season. Its also a battle with them on the property — they have eaten through bits of my chicken coop, rabbit hutch, my daughter’s playground. Exhibit C would have to be the spiders. Until COVID, we did not have wall crab spiders (or “flatties”), approximately 2-3 inch diameter, dark brown/black arachnids, but I encountered them elsewhere: in the B&B and my friend’s home in Harare, in several Malawian national parks, and other lodges. I learned they can run surprisingly fast and have a propensity to run toward me rather than away. Twice when we visited Pumulani, the beautiful lakeside lodge in the Malawi National Park, large, and I mean the size of my hand large, spiders found their way into our chalet. Lots of screaming ensued. The Ambassador recently found a juvenile baboon spider in his son’s bedroom. I haven’t see one of those….yet.

2. Lack of Entertainment. Lilongwe is most definitely a “make your own fun” kind of place. If you require external modes of entertainment, then Malawi is probably not for you. There are no cinemas, no malls (no, the 20 store Gateway Mall, anchored by two supermarkets, does not count), no museums (even in the whole country there are only a handful and they are sorely in need of some TLC). Entertainment venues are limited — not nonexistent, mind you, I am sure you can find something if you really put your mind to it. For instance, there are the huge Tumaini Festival held at Dzaleka Refugee Camp and the Lake of Stars, a three day international musical and cultural festival that draws acts from around the world, both usually, but not always, held annually. For nearly two years we had no Community Liaison Officer, so even few Embassy organized social gatherings or trips, and now there is the pandemic. As a single introverted parent working as the sole political officer, I have had enough to keep myself busy. However, COVID has exposed how very little there is to do as even the quarterly trips to the Lake or a National Park or within the region that would restore us are mostly unavailable.

3. Internet. Some might say, “Oh, no worries on the lack of entertainment venues. Give me a good Internet connection and a Hulu, Disney Plus, Netflix, or Amazon Plus membership and I am good.” Well, in Malawi, you then have to contend with the country’s poor telecommunications infrastructure. First, its expensive. The infographic demonstrates that in 2020 Malawi ranked as the most expensive for internet data among 155 countries worldwide. If you pay an arm and a leg but in return you receive speedy connectivity and top quality service, then you could live with it. However, second, the service provided leaves so much to be desired. There are many times I clearly have a strong signal, and I know I have the data, but for mysterious reasons the Internet still does not work. This extends to telephone services. Dropped and poor quality calls are the norm. Sometimes related to hops, skips, and jumps in electricity, and other times the theft of communications equipment. For instance, the Embassy’s landlines are knocked out about once a month when someone steals the cables.

4. Roads/Traffic/Parking. Potholes, lack of road markings, non-existent shoulders, sometimes even half a lane missing from continued erosion, a limited road network, and sharing the roads with everything from poorly maintained, speeding mini buses, long-haul trucks, bicycles, livestock, and all manner of humanity, make driving in Malawi, well, um, interesting. It’s not terrible. I have seen and heard of worse in places like India, Vietnam, China (recall the 3 day traffic jam in Beijing a few years ago), Kenya, Indonesia, Philippines and the like, but driving in Lilongwe has changed me. I have gone from a mild mannered driver to someone who lays on the horn and yells obscenities. My daughter has heard ALL the bad words just as a function of being in the car with me. I guess part of my frustration is because Lilongwe is NOT a megacity soI do not understand the traffic. There are clearly not enough roads and much-referenced anecdotal reports indicate that some 100 new cars are registered each day in the capital. I certainly get behind quite a few “student driver” cars on the road, and from what I have seen, I am not sure the teachers know how to drive either. But while I am not impressed with the driving here, the general inability for persons living in Malawi to park well exceeds the poor driving. There is one parking area in a large shopping complex in the City Center that attracts the worst of the worst. Diagonal parking, parking that overlaps two spaces — whether side by side or pulling well into the space in front, parking in make-believe spaces, parking behind other people…

5. Poverty Exhaustion. This is probably the hardest to deal with and the most difficult to write about, and to admit. You cannot get around the fact that Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world and that you, an expat with a good paying job, are living here, behind the high brick or cement walls topped with razor wire of our compounds. Relationships with many Malawians are compromised by privilege. Our privilege. My privilege. Attempts to help often end up in cycles of dependency. A simple one-time gift meant to “help” could open up repeated asks, of expectations, that on some days threaten to pull you under. Then the guilt. You have so much, they have so little. It is necessary, even crucial, to understand one’s level of privilege in the world, to not take for granted the access to education and healthcare afforded me by an accident of birth country and skin color. I feel it every single day here and some days I wish I could ignore it. I am not sure I deserve to, but I want to. Yet living here has opened my eyes to my many blessings and I hope has also given my daughter a dose of that reality as well.

The negatives can be hard, some days more than others, but the positives far outweigh them. My daughter and I would not have signed up for two consecutive tours, four years, here if they did not. And most others I know have also extended here — there really is something special about Malawi.